2003 world champion Petter Solberg got into his stride on the perilously loose surfaces of the Jordan Rally’s second competitive stage, going 2.3 seconds faster than the Citroen Total World Rally Team’s Sebastien Ogier.
Solberg, driving his eponymous team’s Citroen DS3 WRC, capitalised on cars ahead of him sweeping the road clear to set a time of 12m11.6.
Ogier, running third on the road behind joint championship leaders Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Loeb, said: “There was so much loose gravel and even for me it wasn’t clean, very slippery. We have to be careful, The new tyre is okay; we’ll see how it goes on the long final stage.”
Jari-Matti Latvala was once again the quickest of the Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers, just 0.4 seconds off Ogier’s stage time, but his hard-charging approach resulted in a minor scare. “I had a big moment at the beginning of the stage,” he said. “I wasn’t straight coming over a crest and I went off the road and hit a rock.”
Ogier’s team-mate Sebastien Loeb had set the fastest time on the friendlier surface of the day’s first stage, but running second on the road over the loose-packed second stage meant he could do no better than fourth here. “There was absolutely no grip,” he said. “We were almost stopped coming out of some of the corners.”
Loeb and Ogier are now joint leaders of the rally, 4.3 seconds ahead of Latvala and 4.8 ahead of Solberg. Mikko Hirvonen, who continues to pay the penalty of running first on the road, was beaten down into sixth place on this stage by Mads Ostberg and is now 23.9 seconds down on the leaders overall.
“This was a very slippery stage, unbelievable,” said Hirvonen. “We went off a little bit in one place.”
Ostberg’s time of 12m24.0s was not enough to pass Hirvonen in the overall standings but he comfortably eased past Kimi Raikkonen and Henning Solberg to go sixth overall. Raikkonen and Solberg set identical times of 12m31.9s even though Solberg had a damaged front wheel.
“I drove seven kilometres with a broken rim,” said Solberg.
Standings after SS8:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. LOEB / D. ELENA | Citroën DS3 WRC | 19m16.7s |
| 02 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +0.0s |
| 03 | J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +4.3s |
| 04 | P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON | Citroën DS3 WRC | +4.8s |
| 05 | M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +23.9s |
| 06 | M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +27.8s |
| 07 | K. RAIKKONEN /K. LINDSTROM | Citroën DS3 WRC | +31.3s |
| 08 | H. SOLBERG / I. MINOR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +33.2s |
| 09 | N. AL-ATTIYAH / G. BERNACCHINI | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +38.2s |
| 10 | M. WILSON / S. MARTIN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +42.2s |
| 11 | F. VILLAGRA / J. PÉREZ COMPANC | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +52.5s |
| 12 | K. AL QASSIMI / M. ORR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +58.0s |
| 13 | B. SOUSA / A.COSTA | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +1m23.1s |
| 14 | K. KRUUDA / M. JÄRVEOJA | SKODA Fabia S2000 | +1m44.2s |
| 15 | F. TURÁN / G. ZSIROS | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +1m44.8s |